Digital Commons Network^™

Gendered Expectations: Do Voters Reward Women For Supporting Women's Interests?, Nichole M. Bauer, Anna Gunderson, Jeong Hyun Kim, Elizabeth Lane, Belinda Davis, Kathleen Searles

Faculty Publications

Are women legislators punished for not supporting women's substantive policy interests? We test these gendered expectations. We marshal an original content analysis of cable news coverage and two survey experiments testing voters' assessment of hypothetical legislators on the issues of abortion and equal pay. We find that voters rate both women and men legislators positively for supporting women's issues and negatively evaluate legislators of both genders when they do not support women's interests. We also find that women voters negatively evaluate women legislators who act against women's interests at a greater rate than men voters. While we do not find …

Mate Choice And Movement Ecology Of Plegadis Ibis In Louisiana, Ryan T. Klutts

LSU Master's Theses

In 1817, George Ord documented the first North American records of Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), a species native to the Old World. Over the next 200 years, Glossy Ibis expanded its breeding range to include the Atlantic coast to southernmost Florida and thence up the Gulf coast to eastern Texas. Forty-five to 75 years ago, its range expansion brought it into secondary contact with White-faced Ibis (P. chihi) in Louisiana, a native species whose breeding range includes freshwater wetlands in Louisiana and eastern Texas. Hybridization between the two species resulted in a large hybrid zone in southern Louisiana, providing an …

Using T-Sne For Characterizing Glitches In Ligo Detectors, Tabata Aira Ferreira, Gabriela González

Faculty Publications

Glitches are non-Gaussian noise transients originating from environmental and instrumental sources that contaminate data from gravitational wave detectors. Some glitches can even mimic gravitational wave signals from compact object mergers, which are the primary targets of terrestrial observatories. In this study, we present a method to analyze noise transients from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory observatories using Q-transform information combined with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding. We implement classification techniques, examine the influence of parameters on glitch classification, and conduct a week-long daily analysis to track outlier transients over time.

Use Of Margins Around Small Brain Metastasis Improves Specificity Of Evaluation Methods For Stereotactic Radiosurgery Treatment Plans, Purity Kemunto Bundi

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: To reduce the high false positive rates (FPRs ≥ 46%) from the evaluation of Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatment plans for small brain metastases. Specifically, we modified two evaluation indices, Treated Volume Ratio (TVR) and Gradient Index (GI), which exhibited FPRs exceeding 84%. A false positive result incorrectly indicates that an acceptable plan, as determined by a medical physicist and a radiation oncologist, is inacceptable.

Methods: This study utilized training and validation datasets from Gamma Knife treatment plans from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center (MBPCC). Data included doses, …

Connections, Peter Froehlich

LSU Master's Theses

A definitive shift in American social interaction has been taking place far longer than most realize. It is easy to point the finger at the prevalence of technology and social media, this has been a trend that has been going on since the mid to late twentieth century. Stemming from changes in design, the breakdown of scheduled social outlets, and shifts in technology have led to what some writers and sociologists are calling “The Anti-Social Century.”

Working through a making practice to promote the building of connections through social interaction, three different types of spaces were targeted for the exploration …

Red Cows, Yellow Dogs: Political Identity, Political Polarization, And Media Skepticism In A Single-Party Socialist Republic, Huu Dat Tran

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the interplay among political identity, trust in government and media, and patterns of media consumption in Vietnam, a single‐party socialist republic in Southeast Asia. Moving beyond the liberal democratic focus of existing scholarship, the dissertation challenges the assumption of political homogeneity in authoritarian settings and empirically explores the extent and character of polarization.

The dissertation takes a quantitative approach and employs multiple statistical techniques, including latent profile analysis (LPA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). It uncovers multiple latent political profiles within Vietnamese society, defined by varying degrees of trust in the government and ideological orientation. Further analysis …

Mitigating Polarization Leakage In Gas Pixel Detectors Through Hybrid Machine Learning And Analytic Event Reconstruction, Nicoló Cibrario, Michela Negro, Raffaella Bonino, Nikita Moriakov, Luca Baldini, Niccoló Di Lalla, Alessandro Di Marco, Sergio Fabiani, Andrea Frassá, Alessio Gorgi, Fabio La Monaca, Luca Latronico, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Fabio Muleri, Nicola Omodei, John Rankin, Carmelo Sgró, Stefano Silvestri, Paolo Soffitta, Stefano Tugliani

Faculty Publications

Spatially resolved polarization measurements of extended X-ray sources are expanding our understanding of the emission mechanisms and magnetic field properties involved. Such measurements have been possible in the past few years thanks to the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). However, the analysis of extended sources suffers a systematic effect known as polarization leakage, which artificially affects the measured polarization signal. To address this issue, we built a hybrid reconstruction algorithm, which combines machine learning and analytic techniques to improve the reconstruction of photoelectron tracks in the Gas Pixel Detector and to significantly mitigate polarization leakage. This work presents the first …

Nonnative Species Richness And Dominance Reveal Differing Support For Invasion Theory At A Continental Extent, Lily M. Thompson, William K. Annis, Stephen R. Midway, Julian D. Olden, Brandon K. Peoples

Faculty Publications

Aim: Empirical tests of conceptual hypotheses describing species invasions often differ depending on the spatial scale (spatial resolution and extent of study area) at which they were conducted. Some of this disparity may arise from tradeoffs in data quality necessitating the use of different indices of community invadedness among scales. Local-scale studies typically use fine-resolution, descriptive measures of community invadedness (‘dominance’, the proportion nonnative individuals) at limited spatial extents, while macroscale studies often aggregate datasets to cover large spatial extents but use coarser spatial resolution and less descriptive indices (nonnative species richness). We investigated the consequences of using different indices …

Reef Fish Movement And Community Assemblages Associated With A Newly Deployed Artificial Reef, Jade M. Carver, Brett J. Falterman, Stephen R. Midway, Christian Walker, Creed C. Branham, Michael A. Dance

Faculty Publications

Artificial reefs provide critical habitat for fish in areas lacking benthic structure, yet our understanding of how artificial reefs function and develop is limited. Here, changes in fish community assemblages were monitored using baited remote underwater video (BRUV) surveys before and after a new artificial reef was deployed in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Movement of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) and gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus) between nearby oil and gas platforms (n = 3) and the new artificial reef was examined using acoustic telemetry, and residency was calculated for fish associated with both structure types. Fish community development at the …

Direct Evidence For R-Process Nucleosynthesis In Delayed Mev Emission From The Sgr 1806-20 Magnetar Giant Flare, Anirudh Patel, Brian D. Metzger, Jakub Cehula, Eric Burns, Jared A. Goldberg, Todd A. Thompson

Faculty Publications

The origin of heavy elements synthesized through the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) has been an enduring mystery for over half a century. J. Cehula et al. recently showed that magnetar giant flares, among the brightest transients ever observed, can shock heat and eject neutron star crustal material at high velocity, achieving the requisite conditions for an r-process. A. Patel et al. confirmed an r-process in these ejecta using detailed nucleosynthesis calculations. Radioactive decay of the freshly synthesized nuclei releases a forest of gamma-ray lines, Doppler broadened by the high ejecta velocities v ≳ 0.1c into a quasi-continuous spectrum peaking …

Shielding Resources For Four Common Radiopharmaceuticals Utilized For Imaging And Therapy: Tc-99m, F-18, I-131, And Lu-177, Michael Oumano, Richard Wendt, James Botti, Nathan Busse, David Hintenlang, Stephanie Leon, Kevin Little, Melissa Martin, Richard Massoth, Kenneth Matthews, Rameshwar Prasad, Sharon White, Jessica Clements

Faculty Publications

Introduction: The use of radioactive materials in the United States has been tightly regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other entities for many decades. In 2015, however, the Joint Commission began to require hospital-based nuclear medicine departments to conduct shielding designs and evaluations for radioactive material areas, mirroring established x-ray practices. NCRP Report No. 147 guides diagnostic medical x-ray shielding, but obviously cannot be used alone for nuclear medicine applications. The rising demand for theranostic nuclear medicine shielding evaluations particularly necessitates updated focused guidance, the aim of this report. Methods: Monte Carlo simulations were conducted using GATE software to …

Editorial Introduction: Bridging Policy Theory And Practice In Uncertain Times, Geoboo Song, Saba Siddiki, Holly L. Peterson, Melissa K. Merry, Ben Galloway, Camille Gilmore, Travis Wagher, Annette Nyoni

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Testing For Normality In Regression Models: Mistakes Abound (But May Not Matter), Stephen Midway, J. Wilson White

Faculty Publications

This study examines the misuse of normality tests in linear regression within ecology and biology, focusing on common misconceptions. A bibliometric review found that over 70% of ecology papers and 90% of biology papers incorrectly applied normality tests to raw data instead of model residuals. To assess the impact of this error, we simulated datasets with normal, interval, and skewed distributions across various sample and effect sizes. We compared statistical power between two approaches: testing the whole dataset for normality (incorrect) versus testing model residuals (correct) to determine whether to use a parametric (t-test) or nonparametric (Mann-Whitney U test) method. …

Advanced Manufacturing Of Multifunctional Shape Memory Polymer Composites And Self-Healing Systems, John B. Konlan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The need for multifunctional light weight structures for engineering applications is on the rise. Multifunctional composites are desired because of their ability to combine multiple functionalities into one structure. The advantages of a high strength-to-weight ratio of multifunctional composites make them desirable and suitable for use in energy-efficient applications. Shape-memory polymers (SMPs) have attracted interest over the past several decades because of their multifunctional nature. They have found use in many applications such as aerospace, satellites, automobiles, textiles, and biomedical devices, where lightweight and multifunctionality are key. The self-healing nature of most SMPs makes them suitable for use in lightweight …

Promoting Social Inclusion Through Sport: A Case Study Of Uyghur Youth In China, Hongxin Li, Yunchao Bai, John Nauright

Faculty Publications

This study examines the role of sports as a means of promoting social inclusion among Uyghur youth in China, drawing upon social inclusion theory. Utilizing a qualitative case study methodology, we explored the perspectives of Uyghur youth athletes to gain insight into the challenges they face in achieving social inclusion without feeling “othered” or excluded. Data analysis followed an inductive grounded theory approach, identifying first‐order concepts, second‐order themes, and aggregate theoretical dimensions. Our findings reveal that social inclusion of Uyghur youth through sports participation is influenced by multiple factors, including language barriers, stereotypes, cultural differences, high expectations, and government policies. …

Unveiling The Interfacial Reconstruction Mechanism Enabling Stable Growth Of The Delafossite Pdcoo2 On Al2o3 And Laalo3, Anna Scheid, Tobias Heil, Y. Eren Suyolcu, Qi Song, Niklas Enderlein, Arnaud P. Nono Tchiomo, Prosper Ngabonziza, Philipp Hansmann, Darrell G. Schlom, Peter A. Van Aken

Faculty Publications

Delafossites, composed of noble metal (A⁺) and strongly correlated sublayers (BO2^-), form natural superlattices with highly anisotropic properties. These properties hold significant promise for various applications, but their exploitation hinges on the successful growth of high-quality thin films on suitable substrates. Unfortunately, the unique lattice geometry of delafossites presents a significant challenge to thin-film fabrication. Different delafossites grow differently, even when deposited on the same substrate, ranging from successful epitaxy to complete growth suppression. These variations often lack a clear correlation to obvious causes like lattice mismatch. Unidentified stabilization mechanisms appear to enable growth in certain …

Through The Looking Glass : Diversity Through The Eyes Of A Dress Form, Amara Copeland

LSU Master's Theses

This article aims to look into educational institutions and how they address diversity using curatorial displays. Does fashion and costume curation add to the seclusion of luxury? Looking into this correlation, this study aims to answer these next couple of questions. How does museum curation add to fashion social norms? Is it a subconscious or conscious decision when deciding on a mannequin or dress form? How do museum and fashion curations add to the exclusion of minorities in the world of luxury? What is costume luxury, and who do we say can obtain it?

This research aims to understand the …

Effects Of Nitro-Substitution On The Spectroscopic And Self-Assembly Properties Of Bodipy Dyes, Caroline Gwaro, Caroline Ndung’U, Petia Bobadova-Parvanova, Dylan Goliber, Quynh Do, Ashley R. Walker, Evan Murders, Daniel Lamaster, Frank R. Fronczek, Jayne Garno, Maria Da Graça H. Vicente

Faculty Publications

A series of boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyes were nitrated in high yields using nitronium tetrafluoroborate at positions 2, 3, and 2,6 of the BODIPY core. This method allows for the regioselective nitration of the pyrrolic positions under milder conditions than previously reported methods. The photophysical properties and electronic transitions of these BODIPYs were investigated by using UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The introduction of one nitro group dramatically increases the dipole moment of the molecule, induces marked blue shifts in the absorption and emission bands, decreases the molar absorptivity, and increases the Stokes shifts of the …

Advancing Aerial Survey Techniques For Non-Breeding Waterfowl Populations: A Comprehensive Review And Application In Northeastern Louisiana, Victoria L. Drake

LSU Master's Theses

Aerial surveys play a crucial role in monitoring North America's waterfowl populations and habitat conditions, and consistency across geographies and years allows biologists to track trends through time. The goal of this project was to redesign the northeastern portion of the Louisiana wintering waterfowl survey to align with statistically robust transect surveys conducted in neighboring states within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. To identify the optimal sampling method, we evaluated three transect weighting schemes: stratified random (unweighted), stratified by watershed, and stratified by expert opinion. Approximately 10% of the total sampling area was randomly selected for each survey period, adhering to …

Impacts Of Climate Change On Cannibalism And Disease Transmission In The Fall Armyworm, Kale Rougeau

LSU Master's Theses

Climate change may alter host-pathogen dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems due to rising global temperatures and carbon dioxide levels. Here, we examined cannibalism and disease transmission using the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), an invasive agricultural pest, and its species-specific lethal baculovirus, Spodoptera frugiperda multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SfMNPV), under various potential challenges of climate change. We used three temperature treatments (cooler, optimal, warmer) based on the fall armyworm’s thermal performance curve to simulate a changing climate and four artificial diets with various protein-to-carbohydrate ratios (low, equal, high, standard) to manipulate resource quality from altered carbon dioxide levels. We found that higher …

Animal-Assisted Therapy With Children In Hospitals And Schools: A Systematized Review, Tantine Kendig

LSU Master's Theses

It has been demonstrated that animals can offer humans significant health benefits. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a growing form of therapy used in various settings to enhance the health of children, encompassing both physical and mental wellness. The challenges of hospitalization and the school environment have been shown to pose different challenges for children, such as an increase in anxiety, stress, depression, and others that have the potential to affect their mental, physical, emotional, and social well-being. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy, specifically dog-assisted therapy, on children in hospital and school settings by conducting a …

“En Clave” Tania León And Roberto Sierra: Autochthonous Music Of Cuba And Puerto Rico, Contemporary Music Composition And The ‘Puente’ In Between, Omar A. Ramirez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document is in two parts. The first examines selected works of Latin-American composers Tania León and Roberto Sierra. Both composers cite their cultural background as a force that shapes their artistic expression. Many of their works are titled in Spanish, with compositions referencing their homelands in subject and narrative, and incorporate the autochthonous music(s) of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Elements of these afrodiasporic musical traditions can be found in their works: Alegre, Batá, Stride, (León), Loiza, and Concerto for Viola (Sierra), each examined here.

Autochthonous musical elements are highlighted in score excerpts and described using …

X-Ray Polarization Of The High-Synchrotron-Peak Bl Lacertae Object 1es 1959+650 During Intermediate And High X-Ray Flux States, Luigi Pacciani, Dawoon E. Kim, Riccardo Middei, Herman L. Marshall, Alan P. Marscher, Ioannis Liodakis, Iván Agudo, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Juri Poutanen, Manel Errando, Laura Di Gesu, Michela Negro, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Kinwah Wu, Chien Ting Chen, Fabio Muleri, Lucio Angelo Antonelli, Immacolata Donnarumma, Steven R. Ehlert, Francesco Massaro, Stephen L. O’Dell, Matteo Perri, Simonetta Puccetti, Francisco José Aceituno, Giacomo Bonnoli, Víctor Casanova, Juan Escudero, Beatriz Agís-González, César Husillos, Daniel Morcuende, Jorge Otero-Santos, Alfredo Sota, Pouya M. Kouch

Faculty Publications

We report the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) polarimetric and simultaneous multiwavelength observations of the high-energy-peaked BL Lacertae object (HBL) 1ES 1959+650, performed in 2022 October and 2023 August. In 2022 October, IXPE measured an average polarization degree ΠX = 9.4% ± 1.6% and an electric-vector position angle ψX = 53° ± 5°. The polarized X-ray emission can be decomposed into a constant component, plus a rotating component, with the rotation velocity ωEVPA = (−117 ± 12) deg day⁻¹. In 2023 August, during a period of pronounced activity of the source, IXPE measured an average ΠX = 12.4% …

My Tunisia Encounters: Inspiration For Some Mathematical Ideas, Hui-Hsiung Kuo

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Visual Stimuli And The Properties Of Green Walls On Human Well-Being In Built And Immersive Virtual Environments, Alireza Sedghikhanshir

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The built environment significantly influences human well-being, particularly in the context of stress recovery and cognitive restoration. This dissertation investigates the impact of visual stimuli, particularly green walls, on human responses related to stress, restoration, and thermal comfort. The research is guided by three primary objectives: (1) examining the role of visual stimuli and their properties in promoting stress recovery and restoration, (2) evaluating the potential of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) as tools for delivering and studying restorative environments, and (3) investigating the influence of green walls on indoor environmental conditions.

A series of experimental studies were carried out to …

Growing The Good: A Communal Garden Case Study Among Marginalized, Rural Populations, Claire Barbier

LSU Master's Theses

Community and Communal gardens (CG) have been documented as early as the late 1800s during periods of economic recessions and high food insecurity (The MIT Press Reader, 2022). However, C.G. adoption rates are expanding on a global scale as communities and municipalities see the potential for the tool to bring relief to environments in dire need of additional resources. Utilizing a communal garden can be used to address a surplus of systemic barriers a community faces; it has a significant opportunity to bring forth the interconnected tiers of public health altogether (Twiss et. al, 2003). Modernized C.G projects bring forth …

Privacy At Scale: A Study Of Mobile App Privacy Practices, Katherine Perez

LSU Master's Theses

What is privacy in a world where people are more connected than ever? Due to the Internet and its rapid advancement, the way information is shared and accessed has fundamentally changed. Millions of people interact with social networks, websites, and applications daily—and with each interaction, some data is collected from the user. In many cases, users cannot access a website or application without first accepting the service’s Privacy Policy. However, these policies often obscure the details of how a consumer’s data is handled, burying important information under dense legal language. In response to growing concerns about transparency, some platforms have …

Exploring The Impact Of Social Media And Social Networks On Juvenile Sexual Behavior Problems: A Scoping Review, Shaleen Clay

LSU Master's Theses

The issue of juvenile problematic sexual behavior has become a pervasive problem, and little research exists on the topic. How social media and social networks impact problematic sexual behaviors in juveniles is even less known and understood. The objective of this scoping review was to determine what is known about the impact of social media and social networks on juvenile sexual behavior problems. Four key themes appeared in the literature including the use of adult terminology, rather than juvenile, to describe juvenile relationships; the normalization of abusive behaviors within adolescent relationship; the influence of social networks/peer groups on aggression and …

Faith And Freedom: The Role Of Religion In The Bishops' Wars, Christopher S. Jordan

LSU Master's Theses

Despite their overall importance to British history, the Bishops’ Wars (1639-1640) remain relatively obscure conflicts. They are more often studied and recognized in larger narratives, such as the English Civil War or the Covenanting movement in Scotland. Regardless, these wars perhaps deserve more attention in themselves to recognize their significance in their own time. While most historians and commentators on this war have noted the many political aspects and undertones of this conflict, which there are many, this thesis will examine the religious aspects and undertones and attempt to argue that religion that had the largest role in the start, …

“When Black Women Whisper”: An Exploration Of Why Black Women Stay In K-12 Education, Chelsea Lynne Murry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

From low retention rates to race and gender biases to being overworked and undervalued in the classroom, Black women leave education at higher rates than any other demographic. This study highlighted the experiences of Black women in K-12 education settings, the role of support systems in their retention and advancement, and why they stay in K-12 education. The study used Counter-storytelling in Critical Race Theory, Black Feminist Thought, and Womanism to examine the race and gender inequities that Black women face and to highlight their lived experiences. Through the use of Sista Circles/focus groups and one-on-one interviews, the research …